I witnessed a very disturbing incident today.

Went back to Seremban today on an assignment. Ate beef noodles and Hakka mee in Pasar Seremban. Yummy!

I walked out from the pasar and saw this MPS (Majlis Perbandaran Seremban) truck that stopped in between the building and the bridge, with the MPS crew standing around.

I was heading towards the car park and there was this tall, skinny guy wearing an MPS uniform walking in front of me. Not far away sat a middle-aged Chinese newsvendor, and i saw the MPS guy approach him.

Not looking like anything out of the ordinary, he greeted the vendor casually, it looked like they’re acquaintances.

 

“Utusan satu!” said the MPS guy. Looked like he wanted a newspaper.

It was then that I saw a flash of uneasiness on the old man’s face. He picked up one Utusan Malaysia and handed it over to the guy.

What transpired next was the most unbelievable thing. I seriously couldn’t believe what my eyes witnessed. So much so, I thought maybe I needed to get my eyes tested.

 

 

So what happened was…

 

The MPS guy then walked away. That’s right, nonchalantly walked away WITHOUT PAYING! He just left. Without even saying a simple thank you, nor paying.

 

The guy didn’t pay for the damn paper! Did he just conveniently forget about it? Did he do it on purpose? Was the old man too oblivious to notice what had happened? But it was not like he was so busy! I think he’s done that for at least a couple decades (judging from his age), i bet he could tell which newspaper is which with a mere sniff, blindfolded. Then why didn’t he stop that guy? I really didn’t understand.

That scene seriously disturbed me so much that i stood there for 10 seconds trying to analyze what had just possibly happened. Puzzled, then indignant.

I couldn’t stand the way things bothered me anymore, so I walked straight up to the newsvendor.

“Excuse me but do you know that the guy left without paying?” I asked.

“~~~~” He uttered something in vagueness that i couldn’t comprehend at all. But somehow i sensed a little embarrassment from him towards my question.

“Did the guy just leave without paying?” I asked again, firmer this time, more like i’m interrogating him.

“Haihnevermindla.” He replied with a sigh, waved his hand once aimlessly in the air. I reckon it was to cover his awkwardness. Perhaps. Still vague, but i roughly understand what he was trying to say, which instantly, sent shivers down my spine.

 

Cheesus Crust. He knew the guy didn’t pay, and he allowed it to happen.

 

“How can?!” I raged. In fact, I almost shouted, how the toot could you let that happen question mark question mark exclamation six six six are you cheesing crazy question mark six six six, but i held myself together. I mean, after all he was the victim right. Kesian him.

“No la, they just kacao with you only. It doesn’t happen often,” he said, looking completely nonplussed and reluctant to carry the conversation on any further.

 

Suddenly, i didn’t feel angry anymore. I felt sad.

 

Yeah, so it was just a newspaper and he probably earns like, what, 20 cents from it? (Though now he has lost RM1.20 cuz some babarian “robbed” it from him in broad daylight). He really gave me this feeling that he didn’t want to pursue the matter at all, and that i’m just being a kepoh passerby who should have minded my own business.

But how could i? I know justice is not always just, but should we just tolerate whatever within our toleration limit to live a peaceful life? Why do we display cowardice to disguised authorities and let them have the pleasure to continue exploit/extort/take advantage of us? We know damn well that they don’t have the cheesing right to do such thing but we endure it because we’re scared.

The attitude of 息事宁人。A typical Malaysian response to civilized barbarism. I’m not asking you to beat up the guy who overtakes your car and shows you middle finger therafter on the highway. But i wonder, since when is being a coward the right approach to move on from such a predicament?

Whatever i wrote above still doesn’t illustrate the tulanness of the incident enough. Urgh. Sien.

Maybe i should just mind my own business. Ignorance is bliss. I just hope the guy with no conscience, who robbed a newsvendor, will become a toilet roll in his next life. He can have fun smelling asses and tasting all kinds of shit.

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